"And I know things now, many valuable things
That I never knew before.
Do not put your faith in a cape and a hood
They will not protect you the way that they should.
And take extra care with strangers, even flowers have their dangers
And though scary is exciting...nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim, "Into the Woods"

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

And our word for today is...empathy.

I remember a Coke commercial from the 70's that featured people from all around the world holding hands in a circle, on a mountain top. "I'd like to teach the world to singIn perfect harmony.I'd like to hold it in my armsAnd keep it company.....I'll like to buy the world a Coke--It's the real thing."

Umm, not quite.

Empathy is the real thing.I am starting to think that empathy is the root of all love.Empathy allows us to really consider how it must feel to live in another person's skin.It helps us to step outside of our self centeredness and try someone else's life on for size.

Imagine the wars that could've been avoided,the arguments that could've been abated,the insults that wouldn't have been hurled,the feelings that wouldn't have been wounded,the children whose trust wouldn't have been violated,

Maybe we should have Worldwide Empathy Day, where we all just take a moment before responding to the people around us, and think "How will this make her feel?" or "How would I feel if someone said/did this thing to me?"

5 comments:

Great thoughts. I have often had the same notion that what the world needs is more empathy and less judgement. I don't see too many Christians these days practicing the "turn the other cheek" mentality. Granted, that is not always possible or even warrented, but a little more of it would make this place we all call home a bit more homey.

I came to your blog because I couldn't read your WTM avatar. :) I googled Jack Bauer (hadn't heard of him!) thinking I could read a large copy of what it says under his name... No such luck, but I did discover he is on 24 (which I have heard of) and there are lots of clever slogans for his campaign...